Billie Shelton, Liza Pike and Kellyanne Downey are three very different women who formed a bond during a spring break trip in college. Years later, Billie is a punk rock star whose career is in a funk, Liza is a successful political commentator trapped in a fizzling marriage, and Kellyanne is a struggling actress at the beck and call of a millionaire sugar daddy. They decide to share a house in the Hamptons for the summer, hoping to revive the spirit of that spring break in Cancun. When summer finally fades into fall, all three of their lives have been changed forever.

I was skeptical about this book because it’s so different from my usual fare, but I’m very glad that I set aside that skepticism and gave the book a chance. Tan Lines is a compelling read, provocative and full of intriguing plot twists. I dislike the expression “I couldn’t put it down!” because it often seems so cliché, but in the case of this book, it’s a true statement for me. I read this over the course of an afternoon and the few times that I forced myself to put the book down, I was very eager to return to it.

As a fairly conservative, middle class t-shirt and jeans girl, I have little in common with the three main characters. I can’t imagine spending $50,000 to for a summer in the Hamptons, and I don’t have a wardrobe brimming with designer labels. Despite the culture clash, I was able to relate to the characters and care about their stories.

This certainly is not a book for everyone. There is a lot of profanity, graphic sex and drug use. These elements are usually off-putting to me, but the underlying story and characters were so intriguing that I was able to look past them. The constant name-dropping of celebrities and designer labels does get tedious after a point, and I felt that one major plot point at the end of the novel was under-developed, but overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it if you’re looking for some fun summer reading.



Jennifer A. (USA: CA) (2008/07/28):
Wow. This book is incredibly raunchy! However, that's what makes it a great summer beach read in the tradition of Judith Krantz and Jackie Collins. Sex (gay AND straight), drugs, rock & roll, reality TV - you name it, this book has it. Definitely not a book for the faint-of-heart.

It's a quick read, and even though the 3 main characters are annoying in the beginning (you wonder how they can be so stupid), you do become invested in the story and in finding out how they are going to fix (or in one case, ruin) their lives.

What really annoyed me, however, was the constant references to brand names. Did I really need to know the brand name of every piece of clothing Liza put on for a date, including her bracelets and fragrance, not to mention her shoes and bag. I don't mind a brand name here and there, but in this book they were constant, and the book started to read more like a luxury goods catalog.

The ending was a bit rushed and disappointing. As I got towards the end of the book I actually wondered if I was missing a bunch of pages, because I couldn't believe the story was going to be over in just 10 pages. The Page Six style epilogue wrapped things up just a little too neatly.